OC/OS Letter to Governor Murphy on New Jersey State Board of Education Nominations
Access a downloadable version of the OC/OS letter here.
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November 7, 2022
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Dear Governor Murphy,
Our Children/Our Schools (OC/OS) is a network of New Jersey education, children’s rights, and civil rights organizations and advocates that share a commitment to New Jersey students and schools. We write today to thank you for nominating three highly qualified individuals to the State Board of Education.
But we know, as you do, that the process cannot stop there. To ensure that Mary Bennett, Dr. Kwanghee Jung, and Dr. Claudine Keenan are seated, your administration must make every effort to convince the Senate to confirm. We stand ready to assist in that effort.
As you know, the terms of 11 members of the State Board, including the current president and vice president, have expired. By the end of this school year, all seats will have expired. This is unacceptable for a body that plays such an integral role in education policy in our state. Furthermore, it is your prerogative, and indeed your responsibility, to nominate individuals to the State Board who represent your priorities regarding public education and who will assist you and your administration in turning those priorities into reality.
We strongly urge you and your administration to work with Senate leadership, those Senators who may exert Senatorial Courtesy over your nominees, and the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to quickly confirm your nominees. Without these efforts, your nominations may very well amount to nothing, a result we cannot abide.
Once your first three nominees have been seated, we also urge you to work expeditiously to identify and make public additional State Board nominees, which may include re-nominating current Board members who are champions of public education. We would expect there to be no expired seats in the 2023-24 school year.
We look forward to working with you to ensure that the State Board of Education reflects your administration’s commitment to public education. New Jersey school children deserve no less.
Thank you very much for your attention to this matter.
Our Children/Our Schools (info@ourchildrenourschools.org)
cc: George Helmy, Chief of Staff